All this week we’ve been comparing what it’s taken to advance out of preliminaries at this year’s Olympic Trials to what it took in 2008 and 2012. Remember, it takes a 16th place finish to move on in events where there are semifinals (200m and down), and an 8th place finish to move on to finals for the longer events.
Here’s the comparison of events from this morning:
| 2008 | 2012 | 2016 | |
| Women’s 200 Free 16th | 1:59.98 | 2:00.36 | 2:00.00 |
| Men’s 200 Fly 16th | 1:59.91 | 2:00.03 | 1:58.70 |
| Women’s 200 IM 16th | 2:15.68 | 2:15.75 | 2:15.80 |
Texas A&M’s Sarah Henry had a bit of deja vu this morning in the 200 free. In 2012, she placed 16th in the preliminaries of the 200 free with a time 2:00.36. This year, she improved that time by 0.36 seconds…and once again qualified for the semifinal by placing 16th, this time in 2:00.00.
The men’s 200 fly saw the biggest improvement of any event this morning, with a 1.3 second jump in what it took to make it to the semis this year. NC State’s Christian McCurdy was the 16th place finisher, and his Wolfpack supporters erupted from the upper deck of the Century Link Center when the final results flashed on the jumbotron.
It was just slightly easier this year to make it out of prelims in the women’s 200 IM this year than four years ago, with Georgia Bulldog Meaghan Raab‘s 2:15.80 being the 16th fastest time this morning and guaranteeing her a spot in this evening’s semifinals.